The semiconductor industry has experienced rapid growth due to continuous improvements in the integration density of a variety of electronic components (e.g., transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.). For the most part, this improvement in integration density has come from repeated reductions in minimum feature size, which allows more components to be integrated into a given area. As the demand for even smaller electronic devices has grown recently, there has grown a need for smaller and more creative packaging techniques of semiconductor dies.
As semiconductor technologies further advance, chip-scale or chip-size packaging based semiconductor devices have emerged as an effective alternative to further reduce the physical size of a semiconductor chip. In a chip-scale packaging based semiconductor device, the packaging is generated on the die with contacts provided by a variety of bumps including copper bumps, solder balls and/or the like. Much higher density can be achieved by employing chip-scale packaging based semiconductor devices.
A chip-scale packaging based semiconductor device may comprise a plurality of solder balls formed on a plurality of under bump metallization (UBM) openings of a semiconductor die. Alternatively copper bumps may be employed to electrically connect the semiconductor device with external circuits. There may be a concentration of stress in the areas adjacent to the connection structure of the semiconductor device. For example, an inter-level dielectric layer is located immediately underneath the electrical connection structure. In addition, the inter-level dielectric layer may be formed of an extreme low-k dielectric (ELK) material. As a result, the stress generated by the electrical connection structure may cause the ELK layer to crack or delaminate under stress.
The chip-scale packaging technology has some advantages. One advantageous feature of chip-scale packaging is that chip-scale packaging techniques may reduce fabrication costs. Another advantageous feature of chip-scale packaging based multi-chip semiconductor devices is that parasitic losses are reduced by employing bumps sandwiched between a semiconductor device and a PCB board. In sum, chip-scale packaging based semiconductor devices can achieve smaller form factors, cost-effectiveness, increased performance, lower power consumption and lower heat generation.
Corresponding numerals and symbols in the different figures generally refer to corresponding parts unless otherwise indicated. The figures are drawn to clearly illustrate the relevant aspects of the various embodiments and are not necessarily drawn to scale.